My evil twin, Michelle, was supposed to go out with me on Friday night, April 24th.  Alas, the poor dear was struck down in her prime by an opportunistic virus.  I was wondering what I could do to entertain myself, when I remembered that Kurt from Girl Trouble had told me that he and Bon (also from Girl Trouble) would be going to see the Neckbones/Woggles/Gas Huffer show at the Breakroom.  I thought, what the hell.  I like Gas Huffer.  I've heard of the Woggles.  My friends will be there.  Heck, I'll go by myself.  So I did.

As is my usual custom, I arrived too late to see the opening band play.  Sorry Neckbones!  I hob nob with the rich and famous until the Woggles take the stage.  (A word to the wise, guys - if you're trying to impress a girl you haven't seen in a long time, don't insult her old band & tell her that they were just a bunch of dumb girls.  I'm too much of a lady to mention any names - Gordo!)  I hear their infectious beat and realize that I must go closer to the stage.  I must get my ass into the dancing zone.  Kurt & I plant ourselves near the front of the stage, and our dancing gets nuttier and nuttier with each song.  Soon the entire front half of the club is dancing.  Even Bon Von Wheelie is shaking her groove thing!  This is some shin-dig, daddy-o!

When they are finished playing, Bon introduces me to Manfred, the energetic lead singer.  He is charming and sweet, and Bon & I are the lucky recipients of extra Woggles drink tickets!  (Maybe that's why I liked them so much!)  I got the chance to talk to Manfred for a while, and bought their latest LP, "Get Tough."  I highly recommend this bit of vinyl, by the way.  He told me that they would be playing in Bellingham at the Double Wide the next night.  The little tiny little hamster wheels in my head start turning.  Danger, Will Robinson!  Danger!

The next day I telephoned Michelle at work and suggested that we go to Bellingham to see the show.  I described just how fantastic the Woggles had been, and that she would absolutely love them.  She was still feeling a tad under the weather, but decided that it might be a fun thing to do.  We packed up the car with egg salad sandwiches, oranges, hillbilly music tapes, and a change of clothes, and headed off to the promised land.

When we arrived at the Double Wide, we saw the band line up on the marquee and almost lost our minds.  It said: "The Woggles, The Neckbones, and Frigg A-Go-Go."  Just the band names themselves were enough to drive us crazy.  We entered the club and had ourselves some beer to take the edge off our long drive.  As soon as Frigg A-Go-Go began to play, we knew we were in for a treat.

Ronnie Ramada, the lead singer/guitarist for the band, can be best described as a cross between Austin Powers and Country Dick Montana.  That boy is insane, and sexy as all hell.  These guys were so energetic and fun, we just couldn't stop dancing.  We noticed that only one other person was dancing too, and she soon approached us and introduced herself.  Her name was Clane, and she had seen the band in San Francisco at the Tip Top Club (where she works) and followed them up to Bellingham.  She was very sweet, and later introduced us to the band.  Michelle remarked that Frigg A-Go-Go were very reminiscent of the band "The Chocolate Watchband."  These guys blew our socks off.  When they finished, we had to run outside & find an all-night hosiery store!

Next the Neckbones took the stage.  Once again, we found ourselves drawn to the front of the club.  A few more people were dancing this time, thank goodness.  Ronnie, Christian, and Chad from Frigg A-Go-Go danced with us the whole night.  The Neckbones really rocked the house with their raw style and crazy stage antics.  Too bad I missed them the night before!  I was very happy that I got the chance to see them, they truly did blow the roof off of the dump.

When the Woggles finally hit the stage, everyone in the club was in the mood to boogie.  I don't think there was anybody sitting down at this stage of the evening.  In my opinion, the Woggles were even better that night than they were in Seattle.  We never stopped dancing the entire time, and neither did our new pals.  What fun we did have!  The band performed several of their songs in the middle of the audience, and this just made everybody go crazy.  Manfred spent the last two songs jumping around on a bar table in the midst of all the crazy dancers.  What a total blast!  Glasses were breaking everywhere, and someone had dragged a roll of paper towels onto the dance floor, paper and broken glass were everywhere!  Unfortunately for the bands, the crowd was rather sparse.  But a good time was had by all anyway!

At the end of the evening, we tried to find the Frigg A Go-Go guys a place to stay, but to no avail.  I was supposed to spend the night with some friends, but they never showed up at the club and I felt awkward just showing up at their home at such a late hour.  I especially did not want to drag a bunch of extra people over there with me!  So someone who worked at the club suggested that we all go to this 24 hour restaurant called The Wagon Wheel.  We tried to convince the Woggles guys to go too, but they had other plans.  So we headed to the diner with Frigg A-Go-Go, and the staff of the Double Wide.  We all hung out & laughed & gabbed until 4:30 in the morning.  By then everyone had pretty much had enough fun for one night.  The Frigg A-Go-Go guys needed to drive to Montana.  The Bellinghamsters needed to get home and into bed.  And Michelle and I?  Well, we needed to get Clane back to Seattle so she could catch a plane back to San Francisco so she could return to her real life.  Reality had slapped us all in the face.

I drove like mad, and made it home by 5:45 a.m.  It's amazing how fast a Toyota Tercel can go when you can only keep one eye open.  The next day we kind of felt like we'd dreamed the whole thing.  Maybe there really aren't any bands that go by those names?  Maybe there is no such place as the Double Wide?  Does Bellingham really exist?  We checked the odometer & got the confirmation, yes we really had gone on a spur of the moment road trip.  And just about had the time of our lives too!

Special thanks to Manfred of the Woggles, and Ronnie, Jeremy, Chad and Christian of Frigg A-Go-Go, and Shawn of the Double Wide for your graciousness & good humor.  Meeting all of you helped make this a weekend to remember.  And I think we made some new friends to boot!

Visit The Woggles web page!
Visit the Frigg A-Go-Go web page!